Merchant Advice Codes
000003859
65
12/18/2025 18:39 PM
2.1
Association Response Category and Decline Codes
Visa and Mastercard have rules for the resubmission of declined transactions and the use of authorization response codes. These rules require issuers to send descriptive response codes to identify the reason for a decline and they group authorization responses into four categories.
Merchants should update their retry logic to ensure retries are not attempted for transactions that are declined by the issuer with a Do Not Try Again instruction or an Issuer Never Approves message on it.
Visa network associations provide a category code in the response of a declined transaction for both card present and card not present transactions. Mastercard network associations provide a category code in the response of a declined transaction for card not present transactions. These codes indicate if a declined transactions can be re-attempted. If a decline does not have a category code in the response, the default would be not to re-try. Amex and Discover networks do not provide this categorization.
Processor Support for Association Response and Decline Codes is Limited to:
| Processor | As of: |
| First Data Nashville Global - fdiglobal | Jan. 2024 |
The association response category codes in the below API field:
REST API Field: processorInformation.merchantAdvice.code
SCMP API Field: merchant_advice_code
Simple Order API Field: ccAuthReply_merchantAdviceCode
Specifications:
• Field Type: Response
• Data Type: String
• Data Length: 2
Below are Visa and MasterCard Category codes returned in this field:
| merchant_advice_code | |
| Visa | Mastercard |
| 01- New account information available 02- Try Again Later 03- Do Not Try Again 04- Token not supported 21- Do not honor 22- Merchant does not qualify for product code 24- Retry after 1 hour 25- Retry after 24 hours 26- Retry after 2 days 27- Retry after 4 days 28- Retry after 6 days 29- Retry after 8 days 30- Retry after 10 days 99- Do Not Try Again |
Association Response Decline Code
All card network associations also provide the specific association Decline Code in the response of a declined transaction for both card present and card not present transactions. This Decline Code is different from the above Category Code but the above Category Code is derived from the Decline Code.
The association Decline Codes in the below API field:
REST API Field: issuerInformation.responseCode
SCMP API Field: issuer_response_code
Simple Order API Field: issuer_responseCode.
Specifications
• Field Type: Response
• Data Type: Integer
• Data Length: 6
Below are Visa, Mastercard, Amex, and Discover Decline Codes returned in this field:
| Visa | Mastercard | Amex | Discover |
| 000 - Successful approval/completion or that V.I.P. PIN verification is successful 001 - Refer to card issuer 002 - Refer to card issuer, special condition 003 - Invalid merchant or service provider 004 - Pickup card 005 - Do not honor 006 - Error 007 - Pickup card, special condition (other than lost/stolen card) 010 - Partial Approval 011 - V.I.P. approval 012 - Invalid transaction 013 - Invalid amount (currency conversion field overflow); or amount exceeds maximum for card program 014 - Invalid account number (no such number) 015 - No such issuer 019 - Re-enter transaction 021 - No action taken (unable to back out prior transaction) 025 - Unable to locate record in file, or account number is missing from the inquiry 028 - File is temporarily unavailable 039 - No credit account 041 - Pickup card (lost card) 043 - Pickup card (stolen card) 046 - Closed account 051 - Insufficient funds 052 - No checking account 053 - No savings account 054 - Expired card 055 - Incorrect PIN 057 - Transaction not permitted to cardholder 058 - Transaction not allowed at terminal 059 - Suspected fraud 061 - Exceeds approval amount limit 062 - Restricted card (for example, in Country Exclusion table) 063 - Security violation 064 - Transaction does not fulfill AML requirement 065 - Exceeds withdrawal frequency limit 070 - PIN data required 075 - Allowable number of PIN-entry tries exceeded 076 - Unable to locate previous message (no match on retrieval reference number) 077 - Previous message located for a repeat or reversal, but repeat or reversal data inconsistent with original message 078 - “Blocked, first used”—Transaction from new cardholder, and card not properly unblocked 079 - Transaction reversed 080 - Visa transactions: credit issuer unavailable. Private label: invalid date 081 - PIN cryptographic error found (error found by VIC security module during PIN decryption) 082 - Negative Online CAM, dCVV, iCVV, or CVV results Or Offline PIN authentication interrupted 06P - Verification data failed 085 - No reason to decline request for account number verification, address verification, CVV2 verification, or credit voucher or merchandise return 086 - Cannot verify PIN 091 - Issuer unavailable or switch inoperative (STIP not applicable or available for this transaction) Issuers can respond with this code, which V.I.P. passes to the acquirer without invoking stand-in processing (STIP). Issuer processors use the code to indicate they cannot perform authorization on issuers’ behalf. Code causes decline at POS. 092 - Financial institution or intermediate network facility cannot be found for routing 093 - Transaction cannot be completed; violation of law 094 - Duplicate transaction. Transaction submitted containing values in tracing data fields that duplicate values in a previous transaction. 096 - System malfunction; System malfunction or certain field error conditions 01A - Additional customer authentication required 0B1 - Surcharge amount not permitted on Visa cards (U.S. acquirers only) 0N0 - Force STIP 0N3 - Cash service not available 0N4 - Cashback request exceeds issuer limit 0N7 - Decline for CVV2 failure 0N8 - Transaction amount exceeds pre-authorized approval amount 0P2 - Invalid biller information 0P5 - PIN Change/Unblock request declined 0P6 - Unsafe PIN 0Q1 - Card authentication failed Or Offline PIN authentication interrupted 0R0 - Stop Payment Order 0R1 - Revocation of Authorization Order 0R3 - Revocation of All Authorizations Order 0Z3 - Unable to go online; declined 0XA - Forward to issuer 0XD - Forward to issuer | 000 - Approved or completed successfully 001 - Refer to card issuer 003 - Invalid merchant 004 - Capture card 005 - Do not honor 006 - Error 008 - Honor with ID 010 - Partial Approval 012 - Invalid transaction 013 - Invalid amount 014 - Invalid card number 015 - Invalid issuer 017 - Customer cancellation 025 - Unable to locate record on file (no action taken) 026 - Record not in active status 027 - Issuer File Update field edit error 028 - Record permanently deleted 029 - Delete request less than 540 days 030 - Format error 032 - Partial reversal 034 - Suspect Fraud 040 - Requested function not supported 041 - Lost card 043 - Stolen card 051 - Insufficient funds/over credit limit 054 - Expired card 055 - Invalid PIN 057 - Transaction not permitted to issuer/cardholder 058 - Transaction not permitted to acquirer/terminal 061 - Exceeds withdrawal amount limit 062 - Restricted card 063 - Security violation 065 - Exceeds withdrawal count limit OR Identity Check Soft-Decline of EMV 3DS Authentication (merchant should resubmit authentication with 3DSv1) 068 - Response received late 070 - Contact card issuer 071 - PIN not changed 075 - Allowable number of PIN tries exceeded 076 - Invalid/nonexistent “To Account” specified 077 - Invalid/nonexistent “From Account” specified 078 - Invalid/nonexistent account specified(general) 079 - Life cycle 080 - Duplicate add, action not performed 081 - Domestic Debit Transaction Not Allowed (Regional use only) 082 - Policy 083 - Fraud/Security 084 - Invalid Authorization Life Cycle 085 - Not declined Valid for all zero amount transactions 086 - PIN validation not possible 087 - Purchase Amount only, no cash back allowed 088 - Cryptographic failure 089 - Unacceptable PIN – Transaction declined – Retry 091 - Authorization platform or issuer system inoperative 092 - Unable to route transaction 094 - Duplicate transmission detected 096 - System Error | 000 - Approved 001 - Approve with ID 002 - Partial Approval (Prepaid Cards only) 100 - Deny 101 - Expired Card/Invalid Expiration Date 106 - Exceeded PIN attempts 107 - Please Call Issuer 109 - Invalid Merchant 110 - Invalid Amount 111 - Invalid Account /Invalid MICR (Travelers Cheque) 115 - Requested function not supported 116 - Not Sufficient Funds 117 - Invalid PIN 119 - Carmember not enrolled/ not permitted 121 - Limit Exceeded 122 - Invalid card security code (a.k.a, CID, 4DBC, 4CSC) 125 - Invalid effective date 130 - Additional customer identification required 181 - Format Error 183 - Invalid currency code 187 - Deny - New card issued 189 - Deny - Canceled or Closed Merchant /SE 193 Invalid Country Code 193 - Invalid Country Code 200 - Deny - Pick up card 400 - Reversal Accepted 900 - Accepted - ATC Synchronization 909 - System Malfunction (Cryptographic error) 912 - Issuer not available | 000 - Approved or completed successfully 001 - Reserved for future USE 002 - Reserved for future USE 003 - Invalid Merchant 004 - Capture Card 005 - Do not honor 007 - Pick-up Card, special condition 008 - Reserved for future USE 010 - Approved for partial amount 011 - Approved 012 - Invalid transaction 013 - Invalid amount 014 - Invalid Card Number 015 - Reserved for future USE 019 - Re-enter transaction 030 - Format error 031 - Bank not supported by switch 033 - Reserved for future USE 034 - Reserved for future USE 035 - Reserved for future USE 036 - Reserved for future USE 037 - Reserved for future USE 038 - Allowable PIN tries exceeded 039 - No credit Account 040 - Requested function not supported 041 - Lost Card 043 - Stolen Card 051 - Decline 053 - No savings Account 054 - Expired Card 055 - Invalid PIN 056 - No Card record 057 - Transaction not permitted to Issuer/Cardholder 058 - Transaction not permitted to Acquirer/terminal 059 - Suspected fraud 060 - Card acceptor contact Acquirer 061 - Exceeds withdrawal amount limit 062 - Restricted Card 063 - Security violation 064 - Original amount incorrect 065 - Exceeds withdrawal count limit 066 - Card Acceptor call Acquirer’s security dept 067 - Hard capture (requires ATM pick-up) 068 - Response received too late 075 - Allowable number of PIN tries exceeded 076 - Invalid/nonexistent “to” Account specified 077 - Invalid/nonexistent “from” Account specified 078 - Invalid/nonexistent Account specified (general) 083 - Domain Restriction Controls Failure 085 - No reason to decline 087 - Network unavailable 091 - Authorization system or Issuer system inoperative 092 - Unable to route transaction 093 - Transaction cannot be completed, violation of law 094 - Duplicate transmission detected 096 - System malfunction 01A - Customer Authentication Required (Decline) 0N1 - System up 0N2 - Soft down 0N3 - System down 0N7 - Decline for AVS or CID mismatch 0P5 - PIN Change/Unblock failed 0P6 - New PIN not accepted |
Frequently Asked Questions
- I see there are Category Decline Codes for all four major card types. Are there no Association Response Category Codes for Amex and Discover?
- When will these codes be available on other gateways?
- Are there any processors that do not support the codes?
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